ProShare Advisors LLC Has $4.57 Million Holdings in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX)

ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,927 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,257 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Equifax were worth $4,569,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of EFX. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Equifax in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in Equifax by 505.0% in the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 121 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management raised its position in Equifax by 98.7% in the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 151 shares of the credit services provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new position in Equifax during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Atala Financial Inc acquired a new stake in Equifax during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 96.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Equifax news, CEO Mark W. Begor sold 22,160 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $256.61, for a total transaction of $5,686,477.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 142,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,539,980.95. The trade was a 13.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP John W. Gamble, Jr. sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $259.10, for a total transaction of $518,200.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 65,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,887,101.60. The trade was a 2.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. William Blair reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equifax in a report on Friday, February 7th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on Equifax from $284.00 to $281.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Equifax from $335.00 to $310.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Equifax from $313.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Equifax from $286.00 to $279.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.00.

Equifax Trading Up 0.7%

EFX opened at $280.53 on Tuesday. Equifax Inc. has a 1-year low of $199.98 and a 1-year high of $309.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.84 billion, a PE ratio of 58.08, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $244.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $252.63.

Equifax (NYSE:EFX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The credit services provider reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.45 by $0.08. Equifax had a net margin of 10.63% and a return on equity of 19.13%. The business had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Equifax Inc. will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Equifax Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 23rd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 23rd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is an increase from Equifax’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39. Equifax’s payout ratio is presently 40.90%.

Equifax Profile

Equifax Inc operates as a data, analytics, and technology company. The company operates through three segments: Workforce Solutions, U.S. Information Solutions (USIS), and International. The Workforce Solutions segment offers services that enables customers to verify income, employment, educational history, criminal justice data, healthcare professional licensure, and sanctions of people in the United States; and employer customers with services that assist them in complying with and automating payroll-related and human resource management processes throughout the entire cycle of the employment relationship.